Charges in cold case killing

 

(CNS): Police have filed charges against two serving inmates for the murder of Frederick Bise, who was killed over five and a half years ago in West Bay. The 40-year-old Swiss banker’s beaten body was found in the boot of his own a burnt out car outside his home in Mount Pleasant in February 2008. Police revealed Thursday that following an almost two year investigation by the Cold Case Unit they had brought charges against two men, aged 33 and 42. Although police refused to name the prisoners, who are due in court next Friday, CNS has learned they are Chad Anglin, who is serving a five year sentence for indecent assault and wounding following an attack on a woman in West Bay in 2010, and Leonard Antonio Ebanks, who is already serving a life sentence for the murder of Tyrone Burrell, also in West Bay, in 2010.

 

Detective Inspector Dennis Walkington, who heads up the unit which was created three years ago, explained that this was the first case selected because, in his opinion, it had merit and potential leads that could be successfully progressed to a conclusion. He said, however, that the unit was moving onto other cases, and while this was the first case, the unit was confident there would be more. The same selection criteria which saw the Bise case singled out would be applied to future cases and one of which had already been selected, Walkington said.

 

Detective Superintendent Mike Cranswick, who heads up the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said the cold case team had conducted an extensive review of the numerous cold cases that the RCIPS has, and having identified the Bise case, carried out an extensive and painstaking investigation. Despite the charges, he said the case was still live and asked anyone who may have further information and who, with the passage of time, can now come forward to contact the police. 

 

Cranswirck explained that the Cold Case Unit, which was set up in 2010, comprises a small group trained to review cases. With many unsolved crimes, the cases were all subject to screening and review and cases have been selected that could advancet as a result of advances in forensic technology or changes in the situation of potential witnesses. 

 

"This is the first case which has been reviewed by the Cold Case Unit and we can assure the communities of the Cayman Islands that it will be first case of many," Cranswick said. "No case is ever closed; we will relentlessly pursue those who have committed such crimes and bring them to justice. After all, that’s what the families deserve.”

 

Neither of the detectives would state how many cold cases there are but said they were defined by the end of investigative leads following the immediate investigation. As a result, the unit has officers who specialise in looking for details that may have been missed or changes in circumstances that could create new leads.

 

The officers also refused to comment on the motive in the murder of Frederick Bise or any speculation that it was a hate crime. His beaten body was discovered in the boot of his own burned out car in the driveway of the house he was living in at the time.

 

Leonard Ebanks had featured as a suspect in the original investigation and during his trial for the murder of Tyrone Burell a crown witness told the court that Ebanks had confessed to her that he was responsible for Bise's death. Anglin was also arrested in the immediate wake of the killing but he was released without charge. He went on to commit a brutal attack in Garvin Road, where he sexually assaulted a woman and stabbed her in the neck.